One of the advantages of this approach, Desai says, is that it may be applicable for delivering drugs to other part of the body as well, such as mucosal tissues like the insides of the nose, lungs, or vagina, where the surface cells are also coated with such cilia.

MEN2B is diagnosed clinically by the presence of mucosal neuromas of the lips and tongue, as well as medullated corneal nerve fibers (a finding seen on eye evaluation by an ophthalmologist), distinctive facial features with full lips, particular physical characteristics such as slender body habitus, and medullary cancer of the thyroid (MTC).

IL-6 production may be a marker of a predominant THELPER2 cells responses or implicate macrophages as important antigen-presenting cells in generating the early mucosal lesions in pediatric IBD patients.